Shiny Ribbons and Hidden Hooks

The Mayberry Way

Most of us know that Mayberry was not a real town. You cannot find it on a North Carolina map, although a good many of us have spent enough time there that we know exactly where everything is. We know the courthouse, Floyd’s barbershop, the filling station, and the front porch at Andy’s house. This show meant a great deal to my mother and me. We watched it because it was funny, but I believe we also watched because there was something reassuring about it. Problems could be faced without people destroying one another. Wrong was still wrong, but a person who did wrong was not automatically thrown away. People could be corrected and still be loved.

I am not preaching this series because Mayberry was perfect or because television is our Bible. It is not. But those familiar stories can open the door to truths Scripture has taught all along. The world has changed since Andy, Barney, Aunt Bee, and Opie sat on that front porch—but human nature has not, and neither has the Word of God.

There are some television programs that we watched, enjoyed, and eventually forgot. Then there are others that somehow became part of the family. For my mother and me, The Andy Griffith Show was one of those programs. I believe I have watched just about every episode—probably more than once. You begin watching for Barney’s overconfidence, Goober’s confusion, Floyd’s stories, and Otis letting himself into the jail. But somewhere between the laughter and the whistling, Mayberry would slip a lesson into the story. It taught us that your word ought to mean something.

It taught us that neighbors ought to look after one another. It taught us that doing what is right may not always be easy, but it is still right. Mayberry was not heaven. Andy Taylor was not Jesus, and the writers of the show were not writing another book of the Bible. But the show often gave us a picture of ordinary people learning truths that Scripture had been teaching all along. That is what this series is about.

The world has changed a great deal since people gathered around their television sets to visit Mayberry. We have more information, more entertainment, more technology, and more voices telling us how to live than anyone in Mayberry could have imagined. But for all that has changed, human nature has not changed very much. We are still tempted. We are still easily influenced. We still have trouble recognizing the difference between something that looks good and something that truly is good. That brings us to an episode called “Opie’s Hobo Friend.”

A friendly drifter named David Browne passes through Mayberry. He is played by Buddy Ebsen, whom many of us remember as Jed Clampett. David is funny, charming, carefree, and full of stories about the exciting life he has lived on the road. To a young boy like Opie, this man looks like freedom itself. He does not have to answer to anybody. He does not worry about schedules. He does not stay in one place. He goes where he wants, does what he wants, and always seems to have another entertaining story to tell. Opie is fascinated. And that is where the danger begins.

David Browne does not walk into Mayberry wearing a sign that says, “Bad influence.” He does not have horns growing from his head. There is no sinister music playing whenever he enters the room. He is likable. And sometimes the most dangerous ideas in our lives are not delivered by people we dislike. They are delivered by people we enjoy listening to. David begins teaching Opie that responsibility is unnecessary, that rules are mostly inconveniences, and that a person should simply do whatever feels right at the moment. When Andy confronts him, David argues that Opie ought to be allowed to decide for himself. But Andy understands something David does not—or perhaps something David refuses to admit. Andy says a child will grab at the first flashy thing with shiny ribbons on it and may not discover the hook until it is too late.

That line may have been spoken about a little boy, but it was not only meant for children. Because grown people grab shiny ribbons too. We grab the relationship that looks exciting without asking where it will lead. We grab the opportunity that promises easy money without asking what it will cost our character. We grab the popular opinion because everyone around us is repeating it. We grab the resentment that makes us feel justified. We grab the habit that promises relief. We grab the teaching that tells us exactly what we want to hear. And we become so fascinated by the ribbon that we never stop to look for the hook.

Proverbs 4 says: “Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.” In other words, do not merely look at what is in front of you. Look at where it is taking you. Because not everything attractive is good, and not everyone likable should be allowed to lead us. The father is telling his son to pay attention to what he is doing, where he’s at and where he’s going. It’s giving an instruction for life that we so often overlook or just outright ignore because we believe that we are standing on solid ground and we have everything under control. Solomon is repeating this over and over, like parents that keep repeating instructions to their children reminding them to guard their hearts and to make sure that what is stored there is wisdom and and the words of God that will keep their feet on the right path.